I believe it’s three or four different centres, yes.
Thanks for the response. So then, when we transfer school bandwidth totally way from GNWT, what kind of money are we looking at? Thank you.
I can’t answer that specifically, but I think the intent of the project is to make it cost-effective or neutral, but I think we’re still in the final stages, as I mentioned.
I like the sentiment that it would be cost neutral, but where’s the revenue coming from to pay for this expense? Thank you.
Again, I can’t give specifics, but I know that Public Works and Services is in the process of renegotiating the contract and this is part of the negotiations. As I said, at this point the objective is certainly to make it a cost neutral or perhaps even achieve some savings or at least increased bandwidth. Thank you.
I guess I would like to ask the Minister if he would commit to provide that information. I’d like to know what it’s costing us to do this. If there are savings, where are the savings coming from and how do we get to cost neutral and/or actually gain some money? If he could commit to that, thank you.
Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. We will provide as much information as we have. It could be detailed information. We’ll have to work with Public Works and Services in that respect as well. Yes, definitely we’ll share the information that the Member is referring to. Mahsi, Mr. Chair.
Page 10-13, directorate and administration. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a couple of other questions here as well. In the figures that are on page 10-13, there’s an $80,000, approximately, increase in purchased services and then we have almost a $200,000 decrease in fees and payments. I was just wondering if I could get those changes explained, please.
Director of Finance, Mr. Devitt.
I believe purchased services, some of the changes are to realign with actual or expected expenditures. The purchased services increase was an internal reallocation to realign the information systems budget. The fees and payments, again, was a realignment of the systems budget to match expected expenditures.
Thanks for the explanation. It creates another question. Where do the other costs, the other $200,000 in fees and payments show up? Thank you.
We had gone through the entire budget, particularly in systems, and realigned it to match expenditures. I’m not sure if we have changed I think other areas as well. We have to go through I think each item. We decreased, for example, computer hardware I think by $106,000, but that actually is a sunset to do with the Redirect Project and the equipment, for example. That’s the only actual change to the budget. The other amounts are internal reallocations.
I would like to ask the Minister for this information as well. Could we get a sheet which identifies the internal reallocation from place to place where it has been moved from and to within the department and could we get that before we’re finished consideration of this department’s budget? Thank you.
Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. We’ll definitely follow through with that and provide that information as soon as possible.
I have one last question; I believe it belongs on this page. The Auditor General’s report on education referenced a number of things, but one of the things that I think was fairly strong in her report was that the department needed to do more in terms of data accumulation and program evaluation. I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not that recommendation from the Auditor General was taken into consideration with the development of this budget. How much is being spent on this particular area within the department? Has there been an increase in the funds apportioned to data accumulation and program evaluation from ‘10-11 to ‘11-12 budgets? Thank you.
The information I have is that the recommendations that were brought to our attention, some of those recommendations will be covered through this budget process. The others will also be covered in next year’s budget as well. What the Member is specifically highlighting is also an area that we’ll need to monitor as well. So some of the aspects of the detailed information on the recommendations will be part of this budget that’s before us. Mahsi.
Thanks to the Minister. I guess my concern is that data accumulation and program evaluation has been part of every budget and what we have previously been putting into this area hasn’t been enough, according to the Auditor General, and I would agree with the Auditor General. My question really is: in the 2011-2012 budget, do we have a greater emphasis -- and by that I probably mean more money -- assigned to data accumulation and program evaluation than in this current year’s budget, the 2010-2011 budget?
Mr. Daniels.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The initial emphasis that the department is working on with our respective school boards is on school improvement plans and to make sure that we’re collecting that information and monitoring how we’re progressing with the school improvement plans. So all schools are required to develop a school improvement plan and submit them into our department from where we’ll do the evaluation and assessment. The Member has mentioned increased support in this area and that’s something we will be undertaking in future work with future business planning proposals.
Any further questions regarding page 10-13? Page 10-13, Education, Culture and Employment, activity summary, directorate and administration, operations expenditure summary, $10.219 million. Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In reading the line under the directorate, and of course having the operations expenditure in front of us, I’m just wondering exactly when there’s a line that states the directorate does the capital planning for the department and Aurora College and other educational authorities. What type of capital planning has the Department of Education, Culture and Employment done for Aurora College in the last two years? Furthermore, what is budgeted for this particular budget year for capital planning for Aurora College?
Mr. Daniels.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The department is working with the college to identify what their capital needs are on an annual basis. That covers each of their various campus facilities, whether it’s in Fort Smith, Yellowknife or Inuvik, as well as the learning centres. Part of the work that we’ve done in the past couple of years is we’ve set up infrastructure funds that we’ve received from the federal government, where we’re in the process of adding three community learning centres in our communities.
What work is being planned to go forward for capital expenditures in this budget year that we see before us? What’s the planning from the departmental point of view? As I know that an independent campus is on the wish list of Aurora College, where does the deputy minister see their efforts panning out with some real developments?
Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. This particular topic, as you know, has been an ongoing discussion. I’ve met with the board, just as the Member has also met with the board, to talk about various options that they’re going to bring forward. We need to work with that organization. They will be bringing an options paper to us to work with. So we are waiting for that information. In due time we will be sharing with the Members or giving the Members a briefing on where we need to go from there.
Is the Minister able to provide a definition of what “in due time” means?
In due time could mean tomorrow, next week. It’s up to the organization to provide that information. Once they provide that information, I will be sharing it with the Members.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. As it’s been my understanding, they’ve been advocating some time about expanding the college programming here in Yellowknife and they’ve found that, you know, they haven’t found that -- if I may say it gently and, of course, correctly -- this report in my perspective seems to be not quite there from the department. I’m just trying to get a sense of whether the department is behind this initiative.
Furthermore, to emphasize the urgency of this particular issue, the Minister is well aware that the lease is coming to termination within two years. If I understand it correctly, Aurora College does not want to renew that lease other than for year to year. The cost of that running lease is getting exceptionally expensive. It has been counterproductive to their long-term goals. I want to see how the department is supporting their initiative of getting to an independent campus here in Yellowknife.
This is, of course, very important to us as the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. We have to look at our students and facilities as well. This has been in the works for quite some time now. The Member is referring to capital planning. There will be a discussion next year; this coming fall. We’ve already initiated our capital planning for last year. With respect to the college, there is going to be information coming forward and we will be working as a department with that information, once it’s delivered to us.
I thank the Minister for that answer. Is it the position of the department to support an independent campus in Yellowknife?
I fully support a campus in Yellowknife. We need to work with what exists in campuses that we have. We realize that the lease is running out, expiring. We need to work towards that -- that will be this fall -- to start planning for the next couple of years. Work closely with the college. Our Education department does realize that this is before us and we’ll do what we can as a department.
I did hear the Minister say he supports the campus but my question was about an independent campus. As the Minister knows, as well as countless people know, I feel very strongly and deeply that Yellowknife is in a position and certainly ready for an independent campus and should be working towards that goal. Therefore, I ask the Minister if he supports an independent campus Aurora College in Yellowknife.
We are working towards that, as I stated. We’re going to gather information. We may be looking at $60 million to $80 million, which we don’t have right now. We need to explore options. The Member is asking a specific question to the Minister. I have to support my existing campuses that we have currently as we move forward. We’re going to see how it looks at that time.
I think we’re sort of saying the same thing, but supporting an independent campus in Yellowknife is not supporting Aurora College in Yellowknife. I think those are two particular differences that we shouldn’t try to drive a wedge between, that shouldn’t exist. I believe it’s the same thing. That’s why I’m asking the Minister, although he says we’re working towards that, I’d like to know if the department supports an independent campus for Aurora College in Yellowknife.
I don’t know how else I can answer that. As I stated, yes, we support our campuses in Yellowknife and we’ll continue to support that.
We’re on page 10-13, Education, Culture and Employment, activity summary, directorate and administration, operations expenditure summary, $10.219 million.
Agreed.
Page 10-14, Education, Culture and Employment, activity summary, information item, directorate and administration, active positions.
Agreed.
Page 10-17. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wanted to start with the early childhood development programs. To start with, I see we’ve got about $7.3 million there. I’m wondering what programs are included in that category, Early Childhood Development Program.
Page 10-17, Minister of Education. Deputy minister of Education, Mr. Daniels.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That covers a range of early childhood programs from the licensed operations that we support, the language nests, the early childhood development programs, worker training that the college delivers. There’s start-up money in operations subsidies that are part of this mix. Then the small community initiatives where we’ve provided some support for child care operators to put in things like playground equipment and other things.
Thank you to Mr. Daniels for those remarks. My question is: in the commitment to undertake an Early Childhood Development Program review, will all of those programs -- and I counted something like one, two, three, four, five, six, six or seven programs -- be part of that review?
Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. Yes, that will be covered, what’s been outlined.
